A Thinking Reed

  • Indie rock

    Too white or too class-based? Or just sexless and boring? 😉

  • Friday metal – bonus

    Just cause I feel like it and have been listening to this album today: Killswitch Engage, “My Last Serenade”:

  • Friday metal – Fishbone edition

    Okay, metal is a bit of a stretch, but there are definitely some metal inflections (along with funk, rap, reggae, etc.). More importantly, they’re just good. “Fight The Youth” “Sunless Saturday”

  • A theological argument for women’s ordination

    I’ve never really taken much interest in debates about women’s ordination – it’s always seemed to me to be a bit of a non-issue. I realize there are ecumenical matters at stake, but in sheer theological terms it’s not something I’ve ever particularly wrestled with. I’ve been a member of churches with women pastors and…

  • +Rowan on Dawkins, et al.

    See here for a streaming video of a recent lecture by Rowan Williams on the “new atheism.” Mad props to Richard at Connexions who was present.

  • Abortion on film

    Interesting review of the new abortion documentary Lake of Fire in this article (scroll down). I can’t say that it exactly makes me want to see the movie, but the idea of attempting to make a movie on abortion that treats both sides fairly is certainly a laudable one (link via Ross Douthat).

  • Thought for the day

    Sorry for the light blogging – work is v. busy. So, in the absence of original content, here’s a quote from an essay by Stephen R.L. Clark called “The Rights of Wild Things,” found in the collection Animals and Their Moral Standing: Stoic theory offers us the ideal of the World State in which men…

  • Christopher Hitchens: bridge-builder

    Unfortunately the bridge he wants to build is one between militant atheists and rabid right-wing warmongers. From the sounds of this report from a recent atheist/agnostic/freethinker conference, most of them ain’t buyin’ what he’s sellin’, to their credit.

  • Yet another presidential candidate quiz

    This one comes via the Lutheran Zephyr. The quiz ranks your candidate preferences based on your agreement on 11 issues: Iraq, Stem-Cell Research, Abortion, Social Security, the Line-Item Veto, Immigration, Energy, Marriage, the Death Penalty, Taxes, and Health Care. Here are my rankings: Dennis Kucinich – 40 Ron Paul – 38 Mike Gravel – 30…

  • Friday metal – unapologetic nu-metal edition??

    If there’s any sub-genre of metal more disdained than hair metal it’s got to be late-90s “nu-metal” (also sometimes called – somewhat inaccurately – rap-metal). While generally quite terrible, there were some decent bands that came out of it. I have a soft spot for this band and actually own two of their albums (this…